Magnesium alloy



WILLIAM R. VEAZEY,

STATES YPATENT OFFICE.

F CLEVELAND, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE DOW CHEMICAL CQMPANY, OF MIDLAND, MICHIGAN, A CORPORATION OF MICHIGAN.

MAGNESIUM ALLOY.

I: Drawing.

To all whom it may concern:

R. VEAZEY, a

Be it known that I, WILLIAM a resident citizen of the United States, and

of Cleveland, county of Cuyahoga, and State of Ohio, have mvented a new and useful Imrovement inMagnesium Alloys, of which the following is a specification, the principle of the invention being herein explained and the best mode in which I have contemplated applying that principle, so as to distinguish it from other inventions.

Alloys of copper with magnesium are known, but so far as I am aware it has never been heretofore attempted to include manganese as an additional element, any more than to directly alloy manganese and magnesium. Possibly one reason for this has been the difficulty experienced in fusing together the two last named metals, due to the fact that temperatures above the boiling point of magnesium are involved. By the present improved method, however, I have found it poss'ble to produce alloys of all three metals, the resulting product possessing distinctive and highly desirable properties which indicate a wide field of usefulness.

The invention, then, consists of the new product, consisting of an alloy of the metals in question, together withthe steps involved in the making of such alloy, hereinafter fully described and particularly set forth in the claims. The following description, it will be understood, thus sets forth but one of the various ways in which the invention may be carried out.

I have found that a relatively very amount of copper, of manganese, need to be added to the magnesium in order erties. Thus the addition of such alloy metals in an amount aggregating not to exceed one (1) per small cent, Wlll give a. product having a much finertexture than either magnesium alone, or an alloy containing manganese and magnesium, without any considerable increase in specific gravity over that of the magnesium, while such alloy is very much stronger under all the usual tests, and furthermore constitutes an excellent bearing metal. 4

As an example of my new alloy, I give the following proportions, viz., magnesium. 9 per cent, copper per cent. and manganese per cent. This alloy has a specific Specification of Letters Patent.

and a still smaller amount to materially affect its propproved alloy, itis entlrely Patented Mar. 16, 1920.

' Application filed October 10, 1918. Serial No. 257,564.

gravity of approximately 1.8 and under test shows a yielding point of ten thousand (10,000) pounds to the square inch, and an ultimate strength of nineteen thousand (19,000) pounds, with a reduction in area, after elongation, not to exceed six (6) per cent. A bar of the alloy, when struck, gives forth a distinct bell-like tone, in contradistinction to pure magnesium, which sounds dull, like a stick of wood. Such alloy, as indicated above, has also been found to st and up exceedingly well as a bearing metal. Thus a bearingof such metal, when subjected to two hundred and fifteen (215) pounds pressure to the square inch, calculated on the projected area of the bearing, and lubricated in the ordinary manner from an oil cup (2". e. not running in an oil bath), showed a maximum temperature of only eighteen degrees centigrade above that of the room.

To make my improved alloy, the proper amount of copper is first added to the mag- -nesium, such copper going in without diifias its melting temperature is relaalloys of copper with magnesium being already known. The. manganese is then added in the form of anhydrous manganous chlorid, the magnesium-copper mixture being first melted in a suitable crucible with a flux, for example, of magnesium chlorid and sodium chlorid. The manganous chlorid is thereupon placed directly on the mass of previously molten metal, where it melts, and if left to itself runs over the surface of the mass, and may be thoroughly stirred into such mass. The final alloy may be conveniently removed in molten state from the crucible, by means of an ordinary ladle, and cast into bars or other such shapes as may be desired. The amount of manganese derived from any given quantity of the chlorid is about forty-four (44) per cent, but some of this is apparently lost in the reaction; at least less than the theoreticalamount of such manganese appears present in the final alloy. However, by properly calculating the amount of chlorid added, an alloy containing the desired proportion (e. g. per cent. as in the illustration cited) may be obtained.

While it is preferred, as indicated by the above description, to add the copper first to the metallic magnesium, in making my impossible to add thus making a culty, tively low,

the manganese cilorid first,

, distinctly claim mixture, or perhaps an alloy of manganese and magnesium, to which the metallic copper is subsequently added.

Other modes of applying the principle of my invention may :be employed instead of the one explained, change being made as regards the composition and method herein disclosed, provided the ingredients or steps stated by any of the following claims or the equivalent of such stated ingredients or steps be employed.

I therefore particularly point out and as my invention 1. As a new ganese and copper with magnesium, the manganese and copper aggregating a rela- I tively small per cent. of the total.

As a new product, an alloy of manganese and copper with magnesium, the manganese and copper aggregating approximately one (1) per cent. of the total.

3. As a new product, an alloy of manganese and copper with magnesium, the manganese and copper aggregating approximately one (1) per cent. of the total, and slightly more copper than manganese being used.

4. As a new product, an alloy of approximately four-tenths per cent. copper, six-tenths per cent. manganese, and ninety-nine (99) per cent. magnesium.

5. The method of making a copper-manganese-magnesium alloy, which consists in first inter-fusing the desired amount of copper with the magnesium, and then adding the desired amount of manganese.

6. The method of making a copper-manganese-magnesium alloy, which consists in first inter-fusing the desired amount of copper with the magnesium, and then adding the desired amount of manganese, the copper being added in the form of the product, an alloy of man-' metal direct, and the manganese in the form of a reducible compound to the copper-magnesium alloy thus preliminarily formed.

7. The method of making a copper-manganese-magnesium alloy, which consists in first inter-fusing the desired amount of copper with the magnesium, and then adding the desired amount of manganese, the copper being added in the form of the metal direct, and the manganese in the form of manganese chlorid to the copper-magnesium alloy thus preliminarily formed.

8. The method of making a copper-manganese-magnesium alloy, which consists in first inter-fusing the desired amount of copper with the magnesium, and then adding the desired amount of manganese, the copper being added in the form of the metal direct, and the manganese in the form of anhydrous manganous chlorid to the coppermagnesium alloy thus preliminarily formed.

9. The method of making a copper-manganese-magnesium alloy, which consists in first inter-fusing the deslred amount of copper with the magnesium, and then adding the desired amount of manganese, the amount of manganese and copper in the final product aggregating approximately one (1) per cent. of the total.

10. The method of making a copper-manganese-magnesium alloy, which consists in first inter-fusing the desired amount, of copper with the magnesiuim'and then adding the desired amount of manganese, the amount of manganese and final product respectively equalling appr( ximatel v four-tenths (f per cent. and six-tenths {1 per cent.'of the total.

Signed by me, this 3rd day of October, 1918.

WILLIAM R. VEAZEY.

copper in the 

